PC Win: Sharing PAB with Other Users

• Microsoft Mail for Windows, versions 3.0b and 3.2

SUMMARY

This article describes a method for versions 3.0b and 3.2 of Microsoft Mail for Windows that does the following:

• Allows individual users to share their own Personal Address Books (PABs), along with any custom groups or addresses they may have set up, with other users on their postoffice.
• Allows administrators to set up one or more Mail message files (MMFs) to be used as templates for setting up or replacing users' PABs with ones containing custom groups and/or addresses that the administrator does not want available to everyone on the postoffice.

MORE INFORMATION

Whenever you run the File Export Folder command from the Windows client, a copy of your current PAB is written to the MMF being created or updated (even if you export zero messages). Therefore, if you know a user's password and the full path and filename of his or her .MMF file, you can replace that user's PAB with the one from the .MMF file you have loaded.

WARNING: The user's old PAB is REPLACED with the new PAB. The old PAB is lost, along with all information it contained.

NOTE: When you run the File Import Folder command, only the messages you select are transferred; your current PAB is left unchanged.

To replace a user's PAB

1. Start the Windows client, using the MMF from which you want to copy the PAB.

2. From the File menu, choose Export Folder.

3. Provide the full drive, path name, filename, and extension to the MMF file you want to update. Choose the OK button.

   NOTE: If neither you nor the user know his or her .MMF filename and location, the user can temporarily move his or her .MMF file by performing the following steps:

   a. From the Mail menu, choose Options.

   b. Choose the Server button.

   c. Choose Local, then provide a drive, path name, and filename (with

         .MMF extension) that is in a location where both of you have access.
   

   When you finish updating the PAB, you should move the MMF back to its previous location by repeating steps a and b above, then selecting Postoffice (instead of Local).

4. If you are prompted for one, enter the password for the .MMF file you want to update.

   Make sure the Selected Folders option is selected in the Export Folders list box that appears.

5. Select a folder with zero (0) messages in it (an empty Wastebasket is a good choice).

   NOTE: If you select a folder that does not exist in the destination .MMF file, that folder will be created.

6. Choose Copy. A Duplicate Folder Name message box will appear.

7. Choose OK.

8. You should briefly see a box that says Copying. When that box disappears, choose the Close button in the Export Folders list box. The PAB in the other .MMF file should now be updated.

To set up template MMFs

Administrators can set up one or more .MMF files to be used as templates for setting up or replacing users' PABs with ones containing custom groups and/or addresses that the administrator does not want available to everyone on the postoffice.

To set up templates, provide a new filename in step 3 above for your template file. Then, when you want to replace a user's PAB with the one for which you created the template, load the template MMF by doing one of the following:

• Double-click the filename in Windows File Manager. For this method to work, the [Extensions] section of your WIN.INI file must contain the following line:

        mmf=c:\msmail\msmail.exe /f ^.mmf
  

  -or-

• Use the /F parameter on the command line when you run MSMAIL.EXE. Versions 3.0b and later of Mail for Windows support a command-line option that allows you to specify a particular MMF to use when you start Mail in forced off-line mode. The following is a command-line example:

        c:\msmail\msmail.exe /fg:\msmail\template\salesgrp.mmf